Multicultural service seeks donated laptops

UNUSED or surplus laptop computers need not just become e-waste because Loddon Campaspe Multicultural Services can make good use of them.

The organisation is asking people to donate laptops to continue their work with multicultural, refugee and migrant communities as part of four digital literacy courses.

LCMS education and employment team leader Robyn Matthews said a shortage of laptops had left the organisation unable to accept any new students into its digital literacy classes.

“We’ve actually just run out of laptops,” Ms Matthews said. “At the moment we have three students sharing the same laptop.

“We’re not able to accept any more students into classes because we don’t have any more laptops.”

As it stands, LCMS uses donated laptops to help students develop basic digital literacy skills. When they graduate, they are usually gifted the laptop for use at home with their families for further work or study.

Ms Matthews said LCMS needed 20 laptops just to maintain its current course structure, but more would be welcomed.

The only specific requirements for a donated laptop is that they have internet capability and come with a charging cable.

The first stage in arranging a donation is to email Ms Matthews at [email protected].

“Students are really committed and they’re learning some amazing skills, but that’s only one aspect of it,” Ms Matthews said.

She said information technology devices and having constant access to them was now basically a normality for most households, but not everyone was in that position.

“As a society we take for granted having IT devices at home that we can just jump on and search for a job, we can just jump on and pay a bill, or upload a Medicare rebate,” she said.

“But all of these things we take for granted aren’t always accessible to the community.

“Having that device at home is the real winning aspect of the program.”

Ms Matthews said donated laptops did not have to be top-of-the-range or the latest models.

“As long as they work, they have the ability to connect to the internet, and they come with a charging cable, that’s fine,” she said.